The audacity of unchecked power in Khan al-Ahmar

An entire Palestinian village is facing destruction. What follows will dictate the fate of Palestinian communities all over the West Bank.

Israeli minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman speaks at the annual Jerusalem Post Conference held in New York City, USA. April 29, 2018.

Hagai El-Ad writes in +972, “Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s recent op-ed in the Jerusalem Post – designed to whitewash the war crime of the destruction of an entire Palestinian community in the occupied West Bank – is riddled with lies and distortions. The very premise he posits in his opening sentence is untrue. Liberman writes of ‘a judicial ruling for the relocation of a small group of squatters from Khan al-Ahmar.'”

“The High Court of Justice’s ruling, however, actually addressed demolition orders, not ‘relocation.’ Moreover, the state assured the court that it is not seeking to forcibly transfer the nearly 200 residents – not squatters – who call Khan al-Ahmar home. By misrepresenting the court’s recent decision, Liberman reveals the true intentions of his government. Furthermore, contrary to Liberman’s hollow claims, this is a question neither of ‘the rule of law’ nor of “the well-being of these people themselves.” The rule of law, in any meaningful sense, has been absent from Palestinians’ lives in the occupied territories ever since 1967.”

“Israel clings to the letter of the law and creates legal-sounding justifications for its organized state violence. In most of the occupied West Bank, building “legally,” i.e., with a permit, is reserved for settlers — an option Israel denies Palestinians….To top it off, Liberman feigns indignation over other countries daring to question Israel’s “internal judicial processes,” ignoring the fact that there is nothing “internal” in what happens to protected people living under prolonged military rule in areas outside Israel’s recognized borders.” (more…)